Sisterly Bonding
by magicmumu
Summary: Summary: Myka sees a disturbing picture of her sister as news of her death, but being an agent of Warehouse 13 proves that nothing is ever as it seems. (Warehouse 13/Person of Interest crossover, spoils 3/30 episode, femslash implied)


Sisterly Bonding

by Erin Griffin

Fandom: Warehouse 13/Person of Interest

Pairing: established Root/Shaw (but it isn't really talked about) and Bering and Wells mention

Summary: Myka sees a disturbing picture of her sister as news of her death, but being an agent of Warehouse 13 proves that nothing is ever as it seems.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the computer this was written on. I don't even really know what all happened on either show past about half of season 4. All I know are the spoilers of Tumblr, so if you get upset because anything is out of character or not correct of canon, you can either suck it up or eat my entire ass.

Myka kept her head down, her eyes glued to her clipboard as she wandered the shelves for inventory. It was the closest to a normal day the Warehouse had seen in months, with the usual wanderer artifacts slightly out of place. Myka liked this. She liked having an ordinary type day. She needed the rest after the mission she had just gotten back from, the sleepless nights after saying goodbye to Helena, the incident in her bedroom the night before… It was one of the moments that made her despise her photographic memory. Myka shook her head, but had not been able to get the image out of her head. She tried to call, but she knew she wouldn't get a hold of her - the number has long since been changed, and up until the night before Myka always trusted Tracy would get a hold of her should she ever truly need her.

Still, it didn't rid her chest of the dullness, the chill that continued to run up and down her spine as she saw the image over and over again of her sister on a slab. One moment, she was checking long overdue email, the next she was staring at a picture of Tracy. So pale… As the image came over her again, Myka was almost forced to the floor. She had already lost Helena. Not to death, but still in a way that left her hollow and lonely. She couldn't lose her only sister as well.

But she knew.

She knew.

Even as she tried to find the gavel of innocence used in the OJ Simpson trials to reunite it with its base, she knew something was wrong with Tracy, something Myka couldn't do anything about, but was she really dead? She wasn't sure how the picture of her sister ended up on her laptop, as she had clicked no links. It just flashed on and off again as if nothing was ever there, leaving these feelings within Myka that she didn't want to face.

Myka was nearly releaved by the blaring that came from the office, alerting the Warehouse agents to Claudia's side. Myka was surprised to find that Pete had beaten her there, being under the impression that his cookie cave was to be his sanctuary until Myka finished inventory by herself. The look on his face matched all of the feelings of nausia Myka had been trying to hide. "Mykes…" he got out, but stopped. His adam's apple was moving furiously as his face scrunched up, and he couldn't seem to meet her eye after that.

"Pete? What-"

"Myka look away!" Claudia said sharply. This did nothing to curb her curiousity, but she knew that Claudia knew her well enough to know she wouldn't like what she saw. She closed her eyes.

"It's my sister, isn't it?" Myka's voice was small and somewhat shaken.

"I'm sorry," was all Claudia said, her head also down so that the purple strip of bangs covered her eyes. It seemed to Myka that Claudia was also trying to escape the image of Tracy laying on a slab, her eyes open but unseeing.

"How could you have possibly known that? It just appeared and disappeared again this morning. Before I could do much, we were swamped with 'IRS' stuff in town. It was gone and there was no trace of anything when I scoured the computer for it. This just popped up again, and… I think there is something embedded within the picture. A code of some sort that I am almost through. I just- I can't keep looking at this, so it is taking me longer."

Myka turned away from the monitor, having the picture firmly in her mind for almost twelve hours by that point. "I understand. I don't know what this is, what it could mean."

"It could be a doctored picture, Myka," Pete tried. "You know, someone with wicked Photoshop skills. It could be a message from her, and- an' you know…" Pete shrugged. "That- uh… That could be the code thingy," he finished with a sigh. Myka nodded to spare Pete's feelings- and if Pete knew what she did about Tracy it would be a good guess, but she knew better.

"I wish that was what it was," Claudia said. "I know my Photoshop, but this has no layers other than- HERE!" Myka looked up, startled. "The code is hidden within the part of the picture here where Tracy's hearing aid is."

"Hearing aid?" She then thought of something as her mind flashed Tracy's image again to confrim Claudia's observations. "That is actually a cochlear implant, but still, Tracy isn't deaf," Myka said with a frown. She wished for something to do with her hands, for the clipboard as she went back to inventory, a Twizzler - anything to keep her fingernails from digging into her skin. The more Claudia spoke the less everything made sense to her, and Myka hated it.

"I don't know what to tell you," Claudia admitted. "Maybe it is some sort of communicater dressed as a hearing aid- sorry cochlear implant, but I can't imagine why someone like your sister would need something like that."

Myka knew.

The team stayed still except for Claudia, who continued to work on carefully getting the entire string of code out of the image. "Huzzah, bitch." There was static, and then a mechanical voice stuttered out something unintelligable until it changed into another voice that Myka knew.

'D-D-D-Dear Myka,' the mechanical voice came in and out before it seemed to continue as Tracy's voice. Then, there was a video of Tracy. Myka squinted at the background for hints of where Tracy may have been at the time of recording the video, but could barely make out windows of some sort of transit system, which didn't tell her as much as she would have liked.

'Hello, Little Sis. If you get this little message of mine, something went wrong. I know I promised to write more often, but that was before my own adventures finally caught up with me and I found myself a willing pawn in a war I was losing. I'm sorry you had to find out this way. There will always be so much I want to say to you. There never is the right time, is there? I want you to know that I will forever be grateful for what your family did for me as a teenager, taking me in and making me part of the Bering clan for a few years. I appreciate that you kept my identity a secret all this time. If She,' Tracy stared upward, indicating someone else, 'were around back then I would say it was part of her plan all along, but sometimes… Sometimes things just work out for the best. I do wish to apologize for all of the things Tracy did to you in high school, though in my defense I thought it would make you stronger. Honestly I don't know how right I am, or even if your strength needed my help at all. You were the sister I always wanted - more even. The only regret I truly have is not being able to fight with you side by side. Nothing says sisterly bonding like kicking in a few kneecaps. Or shooting them.' Tracy smiled at this, and Myka knew the latter part was meant for her sister more than her.

'Here is where things get interesting Mykes. The thing is, I am not dead. Not completely. The delivery of this message was not the first time the the Machine made it into your secret vault of artifacts. After our last reunion - Sorry about that too by the way- , I've had many aliases and, well… I am not the only pawn on the board. All I can say is that there is an artifact that I had in my possession for a long time. It has been a big help in my ventures. I don't know the details of your new life, but I get it. The Machine won't tell me anything more, just that you would be the one who could help me. If the idea of saving your only sister isn't incentive enough, the Machine wishes to tell you that she would sweeten the deal with information on that author you like. Apparently, she went on the run, but no one is ever lost as long as She's around.' Again, Myka heard the emphasis on 'she', and wasn't sure who or what the Machine was. She wasn't sure if the two were one in the same, but her older sister spoke as if this Machine was some sort of deity. 'So what do you say Sis? You ready to learn a hell of a lot more about me that I'm sure you'll regret later? Everything you need will be given to you. I know you, Myka. I know you aren't going to like what you see and hear. I know this won't make much sense to you, but you need to trust Her, trust that She will lead you to where you need to be. If nothing else, I hope you trust me. Follow the trail She set before you. I love you, Myka. I hope to speak to you soon.'

Myka's jaw worked as she watched the image of her sister disappear.

"Uh…" Pete uttered after a long moment of silence.

Myka turned away from the other Warehouse agents as she worried her lip. Her eyes welled as she tried to understand just what Tracy was trying to tell her. She wasn't dead, but she clearly wasn't alive. She was only living some sort of half life if indeed one of the Warehouse's artifacts were involved. "Myka?" Claudia tried.

"Yeah." Her voice was airy, barely there.

"Do you remember earlier this year when we had the thunderstorm and we couldn't explain the five second power outage in the Warehouse?"

"Oh yeah," Pete said. His face scrunched. "You think something happened then?"

"Well, the make up case of John Chambers went missing then. If Tracy or whoever she is-"

"She is my sister," Myka cut in sternly.

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry." Claudia tried again. "If your sister has all of those aliases, it is possible she used that as her artifact of choice. According to the inventory list, it had gone missing sometime that week from the Hollywood sector- most likely during said power outage while we were still in a confusion over it."

"That makes sense, but it would make more sense if I knew who John Chambers is- or… was?" Pete said.

"You of all people don't know who John Chambers is?" Claudia asked. "John Chambers was a famous make up artist who worked for the CIA for a lot of his career which went unknown. He was known as a master of disguise. I thought you would know of him because of his work on the Spock ears and original Planet of the Apes. He died just days after the new release of Planet of the Apes in 2001. I believe his make up case became an artifact then, and could low key have something to do with his death. I can't remember now what the official report on his death really was. The artifact, however, was known to let people change their appearance to the naked eye while any one of the brushes were on the person, even as they wearer themselves stay relatively the same otherwise. Like, uh… Remember in Dead Like Me when they looked like their old selves when they were alive to other undead, but to the living, they looked different? Well, Tracy would have still looked like Tracy to anyone looking for an artifact - which not many people would have been, making her an expert of costume changes. Make sense?"

Pete nodded. "Yeah all that makes sense. I just don't know what that has to do with Tracy- or Myka for that matter."

Myka spoke up now. "My sister was always different. A bit of a loner. I can't tell you why and how she ended up with us, but we took her in for about three and a half years- most of her high school years. She was brilliant with computers, but she for the most part didn't really want much to do with us, with humanity in general. After she left was when we had any real sort of relationship, mostly random emails that might as well have been 'I'm still alive' written in a card in crayon… But the stuff about envying her was real. I knew it was for show back then, part of whatever it was she was with us for, but the pain was still real." Myka stopped and wiped her eye before she went on. "If what she says is true, then she has been wearing one or more of the brushes from that makeup case for almost three or something years - at least. We know from experience how unstable prolonged exposure to the artifacts are." She tried not to think of HG or even the promise of seeing her again as she said this. "It is possible it has done something to her after her… death, whether it placed her… essence elsewhere or- or… I can't even begin to guess what all could have happened."

A sound was suddenly heard around the office area after another silence fell upon them, which made Trailer growl and the agents all freeze. Someone was knocking on the entrance to the Warehouse. Everyone accounted for, with Mrs. Fredrick preferring the 'sneak up on you' method of announcing herself and the Regents preferring to harass them in Univille public, the agents all tensed. "Should we, uh-?" Pete began to ask.

"We have to, I think." Myka said. "Or I have to…"

The knock came again, this time accompanied by the familiar flickering of lights that had cause the five second power outage. Then, the screen Claudia was using flickered, switching from the image of Tracy's pale, lifeless body to a white screen. Then, there were words being typed onto the monitor. K-N-O-C-K-K-N-O-C-K. "Hey that's my line," Claudia said. She gasped, covered her mouth, and looked over to Myka apologetically.

There was a beep, before the feminine mechanical voice said, "Delivery for Myka Ophelia Bering."

Myka looked up at the monitor, but only the words 'Knock Knock' remained. She shut her eyes tightly, and then she walked towards the door, drawing her gun on the way over. She moved quietly, and the other two agents followed after, Pete with his Tesla gun and Claudia with the bat placed stretegically next to the computer. They moved almost in sync, making it through the bombs along the sides and to the main door. Myka swallowed and slowly opened the door.

There was no one there, at least not before them. There was a figure driving up the 'dung dune' as Claudia lovingly called it and jumping out of sight. On the dirt before the agents was a small box, which Myka slowly bent to pick up. She wondered after the talk of her sister playing with artifacts if she should have the neutralizing gloves on as she did so, but curiosity and grief won over her and she used her hands instead. She felt nothing out of the Warehouse norm, or the norm norm rather. It was just an ordinary box. Myka brought it into view of her friends, who both moved backwards and around Trailer, who followed behind after one last sniff of the air. Myka's hands shook as she sat in one of the recliners in the office and stared at the box. Then, she found herself opening the box.

"Myka," Claudia breathed. "It's an artifact."

"I forget all the time that you can do that now," Pete said.

"The cochlear implant from the photo," Myka said. "How is this an artifact? I don't remember ever seeing this in the Warehouse."

"It's new," Claudia said cautiously. "I mean it was created recently."

"So it was Tracy's?" Pete asked, his eyebrows furrowing in thought. He didn't look any less confused, though.

"I think so. I think somehow her exposure to John Chambers' make up case helped her somehow create this one," Claudia responded with a nod that swayed the purple in her hair.

"But- But-" Myka still had a hard time wrapping her mind around this. "Tracy wasn't- isn't- wasn't…." She sighed and bowed her head before she tried again. "I never knew Tracy to be deaf."

"Maybe it is a part of one of her aliases," Pete tried.

"It looks real. It looks customized. You haven't seen her in a couple of years at least. With whatever war she said she was losing, who knows what injuries she may have acquired," Claudia said.

"Good point, Claudia. So… What do I do? She said to trust Her- The Machine? I don't know…" Myka said more to herself than to her teammates.

"Maybe whoever is controlling the tech in the Warehouse and set up the little heist will speak to you with it. She may tell you how to help Tracy."

"Perhaps.." Myka said, but she hesitated. Then she picked up the cochlear implant and put it around her right ear, just as she had seen it placed in Tracy's photo. The familiar tingle of the Warehouse artifacts intensified is it always did when she went under the influence of one, and she shivered.

'Hello again Myka,' she heard. The voice wasn't mechanical as she had expected, but that of her sister.

"Tracy?" Myka asked.

"Tracy?" Pete and Claudia echoed almost in sync. Myka made a gesture of silence before she put her finger to the implant to hear a little better.

'Yes, though… I go by Root now.'

"Is it really you?"

'In the flesh- well…'

"Not funny."

'Perhaps not.'

"H-How?"

'I wish I could tell you, but I don't think that is important right now. My body isn't in the ground yet. We need to make sure it doesn't yet.'

"What do you need me to do? How am I supposed to help you?"

'You know your Warehouse more than I do. The Machine isn't giving me any answers now that I have become like this. She is willing to help, though. If you have anything that can reunite me with my body, that would be great.'

Myka frowned at how cheerful Tracy- or rather Root sounded as she spoke. She looked at her teammates who watched her with curiosity. Had they all not worked in the Warehouse and seen all they had seen the mysterious wonder promised them, Myka was sure they would also wonder if she had gone insane as well. "I have a couple in mind.'

'I thought you might. Well, She did. This is going to be fun. You and me, going on an adventure together. One where we aren't trying to kill each other again.'

"Stop."

'Alright, alright, Mykes. Now is not the time for jokes. Seriously, I do miss you and I can't help looking forward to spending this time with you. You ready to break a few rules, Baby Bear-ing?'

Myka didn't respond to the adolescent nickname. She was silent as she walked out of the offices and down into the Warehouse proper. She'd get forgiveness from Artie later, but for now she had work to do and she wasn't going to let her undead semi-adopted sister get to her in that way yet. She scoured the shelves for the artifact she was looking for, which didn't take long having just checked it off of the inventory list less than half an hour prior, and left her teammates without another word. She wasn't sure just what she was in for, and so she packed clothing and her badge. She wanted to take protection of her Tesla, but knew it wouldn't make it past TSA. "I'll be at the airport in two hours. I assume your Machine has arrangements and arms for me there."

'You know it.'

"Alright then. Sisterly bonding is a go."

'Excellent. As much as I have always wanted to work alongside the Machine like this, I've known recently that I really really want my body , wait until Sameen meets you. She'd like you, Myka…'

END


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